THURSDAY, 2.30PM
THE Angolan government has signed a deal with former rebel movement Unita in which Unita is granted two diamond concessions in the country’s central and southern provinces, according to an official in the mining ministry.
The deal was apparently approved at the end of May by the council of ministers, headed by President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. The concessions, in Mussende in Bie province and in Calai in Cuando Cabango, were awarded to Unita’s SGM company. Neither of the two concession areas has yet been explored, and Unita is still seeking to maintain a hold on its rich alluvial areas in the Cuango river valley in Lunda Norte.
Despite the political settlement in Angola, Unita still controls most rural areas, including much of the country’s diamond resources. The fall of Mobutu Sese Seko’s regime in Zaire lost Unita an important ally, and the Angolan government was quick to take advantage with military attacks on Unita-held areas in Lunda Norte. The intrention is apparently to put pressure on Unita to return control of the countryside and Angola’s diamond resources to state rule. Unita has been put under further pressure to make a deal with the government as it is no longer able to sell mined gems in Laurent Kabila’s Democratic Republic of the Congo.